Roleplay - Magic Interpretation Guide
Preface: This post covers what is and is not acceptable for RPing magic and spellcasting on TDN. We recognize that many players come from many different RP backgrounds and may be used to different conventions, and so we felt that a post like this was necessary to align everyone with how we regard this part of the setting. More information may follow in this thread about spellcasters and how magic "works" in our version of the Forgotten Realms setting. Base Ruling: Everything that has a visual In-Game is assumed to look like that ICly unless emoted otherwise. What You See is What You Get for magic by default. Variations to spell effects and casting CAN occur, and while many are acceptable RP flavor additions, many are not. We will ultimately run into many edge cases, so this is an effort to lend a few examples that may help to keep consistency without stifling creative input. Rule of Thumb: Err on the side of conservative effects and representation of magic. The less flashiness the better. Below is a series of examples of effects that are acceptable, and a series of effects that are not. Any specific cases that don't fall into these general categories may be brought to Aschent or SilverSnow. Emoting changing the color of a spell within reasonable context for that spell and the spellcaster: * Ex: A fey-based sorceress emoting white or silvery flames for Burning Hands or fireball is allowed. * Ex: Emoting Mestil's Acid Sheath as black acid instead of green is allowed. * Ex: Someone claiming the Shadows of Shadow conjuration are green is NOT allowed, as it doesn't make sense for a color. * Ex: Someone throwing around Pink magic just because their aesthetic is pink is not allowed. Note: Delineation here is that some colors are going to be thematically appropriate, while others are clearly there just to express blatant uniqueness. Emoting changing the appearance or "texture" of a spell, within reasonable context for that spell and the spellcaster: * Ex: Shield Spell having runic symbols on a clear sphere instead of a clear transparent bubble is allowed. * Ex: Shield Spell being emoted as illusory floating tower shields is not allowed. * Ex: Endure Elements being emoted as "alternating blurs of heat and misting frost" instead of the sparklies is allowed. * Ex: Endure Elements having no VFX at ICly is not allowed, or having the caster be surrounded by over the top VFX. An increase in magnitude of IC appearance from Endure>Resist>Protection>Energy Buffer is allowed. * Ex: Mage Armor being emoted as a ritualistic warding on someone's armor or shield with charcoal is allowed. * Ex: Mage Armor being emoted as hands appearing to intercept incoming attacks is not allowed. Emoting a variation to the effect of a spell: * Ex: Gust of Wind being either a howling buffet of wind or a single mighty blast are both acceptable. * Ex: Gust of Wind being emoted as a literal hurricane that picks up debris and players is not acceptable. * Ex: Fireball blowing up in an explosion of blue fire and force is acceptable. * Ex: Fireball immolating everything in the area and sustaining that targets remain on fire is not acceptable; there are spells that do just that, and to imply that targets remain on fire implies they receive further damage. * Ex: Flame Weapon's fire being ghostly silver if it's a consistent aesthetic is allowed. * Ex: Flame Weapon's fire being black, purple, with appearances of eyes in the fire is not allowed; violates the "over the top" rule. * Ex: The sound of brass bells accompanying strikes from a weapon with the Deafening Clang spell is acceptable. * Ex: Darkness muting sound is not acceptable. Emoting the severity of a spell's effect: * Ex: Cat's Grace giving an already high-Dex character "catlike" grace and nimbleness is allowed, it may push them past 18-20, which is normally the very limit of normal human ability in any Attribute. * Ex: Cat's Grace giving an 8 Dex character "catlike" grace is not allowed; it would at best render them above average and competent. * Ex: Electric Jolt delivering a sudden shock to a target that may be lethal to some is allowed. * Ex: Electric Jolt sending a target into convulsions and making them sizzle is not allowed. * Note: The higher level the variation of the spell (GMW vs MW, Prot from Elements vs Endure Elements), the more "grandly" it can be represented. If Metamagic is applied to a spell, such as Empower or Maximize, describing the spell effect as larger and more powerful is also viable. Emoting spell effects on a target or a player: * Ex: An acid spell can sizzle through armor and clothes and sear flesh. * Ex: Unless it is the killing spell or does immense damage, an acid spell cannot be described as sizzling through flesh and eating through bone. * Ex: A lightning bolt on your character can char them and leave them twitching after the fact, searing skin. * Ex: A lightning bolt on your character can't have no practical effect if it did damage in-game. * Note: Save the truly interesting descriptions of spell effects on a target for killing or near-killing blows. This gives them more weight and gravity. Emoting the manner in which a spell is cast: * Ex: Flame Arrow causes flaming arrows to appear around the outstretched hand as the spell is finished is allowed. * Ex: Flame Arrow appearing as a fire arrow on the drawn string of a bow is not allowed; both hands are busy, fire would damage the bow and string. * Ex: Emoting a rhythmic cadence to the verbal and somatic components of a Hold Person spell to mimic "hypnosis" is allowed. * Ex: Emoting the spell's entire casting appears as a blown kiss or a wink is not allowed; the kiss or wink could happen in addition to the real verbal and somatic components. * Ex: Casting Lightning Bolt like Emperor Palpatine, from outstretched fingers at the end of a somatic and verbal invocation to direct the spell is allowed. * Ex: Spitting it out of your mouth like Godzilla is not allowed. * Ex: Negative Energy Ray emoted as tendrils of crackling black energy extending from fingers toward the target (instead of a direct ray) is acceptable. * Ex: Floating a foot into the air before casting a spell is not acceptable. Note: Outside of rote hand gestures for the somatic component, basically any other gesture is an additional one and there for flavor and possibly to direct the spell, such as thrust out hands, pointing fingers, or really intense stares. Casting spells in RP time as opposed to mechanically: A wizard casting any spell means they must have had it prepared ahead of time, and they are limited. Wizards throwing around levitations, prestidigitation, and other things is discouraged. The same goes for divine classes; any ability they represent must correspond to a prepared spell within their means. (DM intervention may allow for more options not limited to mechanics, but a DM must be involved.) * A sorceror or bard does not have to have a spell prepared ahead of time, but they may be able to reliably reproduce only a few effects of any merit. It's possible for them to be a little more flagrant with their magic, but even minor things are exertions which compound. A smart sorceror will not idly cast spells, even if it weren't frowned upon to do so publicly. * When a wizard runs out of spells per day, he runs out of the limit he can memorize; as soon as the spell is cast it flees his mind. When a sorceror runs of out spells, they run out of "juice," and can't manifest the willpower to channel their magic anymore without further rest. Spellcasting for a Wizard is mentally taxing. Spellcasting for a sorcerer is more physically exhausting. Note: In general, the setting discourages idle casting of even small magics in public, and every ability that is shouldn't be done too lightly: It is all still magic in the end, and even a cantrip is a fantastical feat to most eyes. Languages and Somatic Components: * Wizard and Sorcerer somatic components are essentially identical. The wizards have to learn and practice and perfect the hand motions (it is always hands involved), while Sorcerers natively know what feels right, but also require practice to reliably mimic the same effect. * Bard somatic components have a similar root to Wizard and Sorcerer spells, but are considerably less complex. * Cleric and Druid somatic components are not similar to Arcane ones, and while spells require them, they may be only simple gestures or invocations to direct a spell. Extra work or emoting describing a more ritualistic casting of a spell is usually welcome. * Spell Languages vary from caster to caster, and specific words may as well. There is no one language of magic, but it will almost always be a racial language or an ancient one. Common or regular regional languages cannot be used as Arcane spellcasting languages. Divine spellcasting languages are almost always Celestial, Infernal, Abyssal, or Druidic. Note: Having a Language like Celestial or Abyssal does not mean the PC can fluently speak it and hold regular conversations in it; they know rote snippets and can comprehend it being spoken, but these languages aren't meant to be conversational. Furthermore, they may only be used for topics and subjects relevant to them, e.g., you may not cast Evil spells with Celestial, or discuss baking cookies in Infernal. A mundane example is Latin; it is used in ritualistic purposes, it is the root of many other things, but no one converses in it. Bloodline Spellcasting: Aesthetic influences from a Bard or Sorceror's Bloodline, or a specific Deity's theme, may impact the representation of spells. An Infernal bloodline may manifest in more brightly red fire spells, and with spellcasting coming with a sutle scent of brimstone and discomfort to Chaotic or Good PCs nearby as it literally channels the power of the Hells. A draconic-blooded spellcaster will most often use Draconic as their language, and favor spells similar to their specific bloodline's aesthetic (White dragon disciple is likely not going to be favoring fire over Ice spells.) A Fey-blooded spellcaster's spells may bring some discomfort to extremely lawful beings, and carry with them a smell of somewhere otherworldly. Ask if not sure how to vary your bloodline's representation of spellcasting. * While all Wizard spells are extremely "by the book" and rote, individual casts of a Sorceror's spells may vary from one another slightly. If a Wizard's fire spells are blue, it would be an entirely different spell for them to cast a fire spell with orange fire. Metamagic may influence this, however.